January 2011 MMA News Archive - Page 3

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Not if Lawler has his way Saturday night. "He’ll have no choice but to stand. That’s what I plan on doing. I’m forcing him to stand and seeing how good his standup is. I believe if anyone stands, it’s just a matter of time before I catch them. I believe I’m better on standup. He’s a really good athlete. He’s explosive. His takedowns are real explosive and he’s got a judo background. I just have to keep it where I want to and not make any mistakes and take advantage of it being on the feet. I believe it’s going to be an awesome fight. Two guys, one guy not wanting to give up the belt and one guy going in there to take the belt. It’s going to be a battle." Lawler faces Souza for the Strikeforce Middleweight title.

So says none other than Scott Coker...and if he's on it'll be a loss to a familiar face. "I believe that there are going to be some upsets in this tournament. On one side you'll have Alistair Overeem and he will fight (Josh) Barnett. The other prediction is, if Fabricio Werdum beats Alistair (Overeem), I believe Fabricio can beat Fedor (Emelianenko) again and he'll probably fight (Josh) Barnett. That's my prediction, but in these things you never know, I'm just throwing out some names. The reality is we're going to have a lot of fun watching it unfold."

This past weekend's "UFC Fight Night 23: UFC Fights for the Troops 2" event scored a 1.3 household rating and an average of 1.85 million viewers. The event also peaked with 2.5 million viewers. The most recent "Fight Night" event, "UFC Fight Night 22: Marquardt vs. Palhares," scored an average audience of just 1.2 million viewers in September.

Apparently Simpson started a Twitter war with comments about Jones' next fight at UFC 126 against Ryan Bader. Naturally, Jones' fuse was lit. "Didn't you lose your last 2 fights? Please don't piss me off, I actually have respect for ryan. Don't you have a fight scheduled? Focus on yourself instead of whether I'm ready or not. Are you familiar with the strike policy in baseball?"

At least that's what Dana White said recently. "We were actually trying to hook [Silva] up with Brian Stann. He doesn't want to fight Brian Stann. He's like, 'F*** that; everybody is going to hate me if I fight Brian Stann. Everybody loves Brian Stann.' But that's the fight we're trying to make right now." Stann spoiled a planned Silva-Chris Leben fight by beating Leben at UFC 125, then he called out Silva.

That's what KenFlo had to say on Pro MMA Radio last night in response to recent comments on the show by Guillard. "It doesn't make sense. There's a lot of guys working hard. It's who the best fighter is. If Melvin thinks he deserves a shot over me, he should fight me and beat me. It's always about who the best fighter is. Who has he beaten? What has he done? That's great he's finally considered a top contender. Losing to Joe Stevenson in the first round isn't gonna get you that shot. You have to be consistent. He has to separate himself from the pack. I would take that fight."

There's still some fight left in "Lil' Evil."
Former UFC lightweight champ Jens Pulver (23-14-1) this past Saturday submitted Mike Lindquist with a first-round rear-naked choke at an XFO event in Woodstock, Ill., snapping a six-fight losing streak.
It was Pulver's first win in over three years and would have retired had he fallen short against the unheralded fighter (6-20), Pulver said Monday on MMAFighting.com's The MMA Hour.

Right now, Paul Daley is Strikeforce's contender-in-waiting and will get a title shot against the winner of Saturday's championship fight between welterweight titleholder Nick Diaz and challenger Evangelista Santos. But Daley could lose that title shot if he suffers a loss on Feb. 26. That's when Daley fights Yuya Shirai for a vacant welterweight belt at BAMMA 5, an event that takes place in his native U.K. During a media call today, Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker was asked about that fight. While the organization allows some fighters to sign non-exclusive deals and compete in outside organizations, that fight could affect Daley's future in Strikeforce. Coker said a win at the BAMMA show will keep Daley next in line for the title shot. And a loss? "The deck gets reshuffled," he said.

While the past three seasons have featured an initial elimination round of fights, "The Ultimate Fighter 13" will kick off with just 14 cast members. Beginning with "TUF 11," the UFC expanded its initial fighter group from the usual 16 to 28. To get into the house and become an official cast member, fighters had to win an elimination-round bout on the first day of taping. With the upcoming 13th season, the elimination round has been eliminated. But the "wild card" selections still are in play. "TUF 13" began production today in Las Vegas, and the shows debuts March 30 on Spike TV. Former champ Brock Lesnar and fellow heavyweight contender Junior Dos Santos serve as head coaches and each oversees a team on the show. Although initially expected to feature both welterweight and middleweight fighters, producers recently chose to go with a cast of all 170-pounders this season. It's not clear why the UFC and Spike TV nixed the elimination round for "TUF 13."

The Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation has issued the medical suspensions from Saturday's UFC Fights For The Troops 2 event. As is commonplace in Texas all fighters received a mandatory suspension for precautionary reasons but most are only for 8-10 days. 3 fighters got 31 days and 2-Matt Mitrione and Willamy Friere (Chequerim)-are suspended indefinitely and must be cleared by doctors before they can return.

This past weekend's "UFC Fight Night 23: UFC Fights for the Troops 2" event drew an announced crowd of 3,200. There was no live gate for the event because the event was not only open to military personnel only (outside of some press) but all the tickets given out were free tickets. The totalproceeds raised for the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund hasn't been announced yet, but will reportedly be in the millions once the totals are added up this week.

As expected Spike TV will broadcast a dozen "UFC Prelims" broadcasts, which are one-hour preliminary-card specials that precede pay-per-view airings, this year. Spike announced the plans today, first up is UFC 126. The featured TV fights will be Donald Cerrone vs. Paul Kelly and Chad Mendes vs. Michihiro Omigawa. But the reported contract renewal to keep the specials going still hasn't been finalized, that would be needed for the specials to continue past 2011.

Jens Pulver snapped a six-fight losing streak and picked up his first victory since 2007 with a win in the headliner of Saturday's XFO 38 event.
Pulver (23-14-1) scored a quick, 49-second rear-naked choke victory over area fighter and one-time WEC competitor Mike Lindquist (6-20).
The event took place at Woodstock Harley Davidson in Woodstock, Ill., and streamed online.

Jason Reinhardt has been granted a second chance to make a first impression. It is both a unique circumstance and a statement that implies his initial opportunity did not go as planned, which is affirmative. After accumulating a sparkling, unblemished record on the regional circuit fighting mostly in the Midwest, he got the call from the UFC to compete on the UFC 78 card in November 2007. Unfortunately, his night would last a mere 74 seconds. Then-hotshot prospect Joe Lauzon secured a body-lock takedown, worked to assume a dominant position, and forced Reinhardt to give up his back and tap to a perfectly executed rear-naked choke. It was a harsh reality to endure for a man who spent years trying to reach the sport's pinnacle. The loss forced him back to the regional circuit , where he promptly won back-to-back fights via first-round stoppage. It was enough to propel him back into the good graces of the Zuffa brass; Reinhardt was pegged to welcome Chinese import Zhang Tie Quan to the U.S. on the WEC 51 card this past September. The proposed bout, however, simply was not meant to be. Reinhardt failed a pre-fight medical exam conducted by the Colorado State Boxing Commission that halted the matchup in its tracks.
Post UFC-WEC merger, the same matchup with Quan again was given legs by management, only this time it will fall under the UFC banner. The pair finally squares off on the preliminary card of UFC 127, which takes place Feb. 27 in Sydney, Australia. A source of further inspiration for his impeding fight is the current situation of his friend Will Ribeiro. Ribeiro, once a promising WEC fighter, continues to struggle in many facets of his life following a devastating 2008 motorcycle crash that has relegated him to a wheelchair. "I talk to him all the time on e-mail," Reinhardt said. "He's hurting. He doesn't even have food in his apartment. The only person that stuck by him is his brother (Wladimir). He can walk a little bit with a walker. He can get up, but he'll never fight again, never. I am hoping one day he can teach and still be involved in the sport.
"When I get home, I am going to do a big-fight show promotion (under his co-owned Courage Fighting Championships), and if it makes money, I am going to get the proceeds and get him over here to the United States so he can get the rehab he deserves. The guy needs our help. We can't turn our back on one of our own."

That's basically what Mitrione said at the UFC FFTT 2 post-fight presser. "He's so elusive. He uses his athleticism to make everybody else have to change their game. I mean, Scotty Jorgensen is a tough, tough little fella and Dominick made him look like a child. You know what I mean, took him down at will, head strikes coming from every angle whatsoever, finised with beautiful leg kicks or head kicks, whatever it was. The way Dominick's gameplan is and the way that he makes everybody so uncomfortable with his movement because it's so herky-jerky and so unpredictable, then poof comes a right hand or left uppercut or whatever the hell is coming. I love the way he fights man. I respect it and I told him beforehand, 'this is, I'm going to try to fight like you.' Granted, like I said, I started out a little slower than I wanted to but I'm pretty damn athletic, the second most athletic heavyweight around. As a result, I need to make people fight my game."

With another successful chapter of the event series in the books, it's a safe bet "UFC Fights for the Troops" will return in 2012. Following Saturday's second installment, which came in the form of UFC Fight Night 23 at Fort Hood in Texas, Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund trustee Marty Edelman said a third event likely will take place next year. And for Edelman, who's helped raise millions for one of the world's most effective military-based foundations, improving the lives of soldiers is paramount. And that's what made fight week so satisfying. The UFC first teamed up with the IFHF in 2008 for the first "Troops" event. Through online initiatives and the night's Spike TV broadcast, the event raised nearly $5 million to help complete the National Intrepid Center of Excellence, a research and treatment center for brain injuries that's located in Bethesda, Md. This year's take will help fund research that thus far has been sorely lacking. "We asked the government and Department of Defense what was needed, and it turned out traumatic brain injury is the signature wound of this war," said Edelman, who's also been involved in the IFHF's building of a center for amputees and accompanying family housing. "So we raised $65 million and built the traumatic brain injury center, and the UFC have been our partners in this endeavor from the beginning.
"They're devoted to America's troops, they come to these events, they help us create them, and we wouldn't be doing this without them today."
Immediately after Saturday's show, Edelman said more than $600,000 had been donated simply via phone lines during the Spike TV broadcast. Millions more are expected to come through online donations and other avenues, including a UFC-related auction, over the next few days. (Make a donation at www.fightforthetroops.com.)

Anthony Pettis will finally make his Octagon debut but, as expected, it will not come against the UFC Lightweight Champion. According to Dana White, the last man to hold WEC‘s 155-pound title will in fact take on Clay Guida rather than sitting on the sidelines to wait for his promised unification fight. The bout was rumored weeks ago following the UFC President’s announcement of Gray Maynard receiving an immediate rematch against Frankie Edgar after their UFC 125 title-fight ended in a draw.

After a recent announcement regarding Patrick Cote signing with Ringside MMA it appears the former UFC middleweight title-contender now has an opponent and date attached to his forthcoming debut in the Canadian company. According to an official press release, Cote will fight TUF 3 alum Kalib Starnes on April 9 at the Bell Centre in Montreal.

KILLEEN, Texas – Melvin Guillard, Yves Edwards and Cody McKenzie each earned $30,000 "Fight Night" bonuses for their performances at Saturday's "UFC Fight Night 23: UFC Fight for the Troops 2" event.
Guillard earned the night's "Knockout of the Night" award, Edwards got the "Submission of the Night" bonus and a "Fight of the Night" award, which also went to opponent McKenzie.

So says Dana White from yesterday's pre-FFTT Q&A...of course this likely is assuming Jackson beats Thiago Silva at UFC 130. "(The light heavyweight) division is interesting. There's so many guys at 205, (but) Rampage is probably next in line. Rampage is still in the mix. You've got Jon Jones fighting Bader, which is going to be a great fight that catapults one of those guys into the top five. The big problem with the 205-pound division has been, Shogun's injury has been clogging up the division. So now he's healthy and gonna fight, and we're getting everything rolling here."